“Coordinate,” I spit out. “While I walked around with a target on my back.”
“You were with me.” Gabriel remains frustratingly calm. “No one was getting to you while I was there.”
So that’s why he followed me all the way to the lounge before parting ways this morning.
Anger pulses hot beneath my skin. Not because he protected me, but because he decided for me, notwithme. He measured the risk, calculated my response, and chose what information I deserved based on his own assessment.
“You should have told me right away,” I hiss, aware of Rowan watching our exchange with interest.
Gabriel’s composure cracks. “And what would you have done?”
“That wasn’t your call to make.”
“I was trying to?—”
“Protect me?” I cut him off. “Or control the situation?”
His eyes narrow. “Is there a difference?”
“To you? It seems not.”
Ghost clears his throat and slides a second folded paper across the bar. This one he pushes toward Gabriel, who takes it without breaking eye contact with me.
“The warehouse fire wasn’t random,” Ghost says, just loud enough to carry over the soft jazz. “It was a cleansing operation.”
Gabriel unfolds the note, scans its contents, and his jaw locks into place. “How reliable is this information?”
“Came from three separate sources.” Ghost takes a step back. “The timeline matches.”
Gabriel passes the note to me. The paper lists coordinates, times, and names I don’t recognize, except for the final line:T.R. handling contamination.
“Tony was there himself,” I translate, reading between the lines.
“So it appears,” Gabriel says. “Which means whatever was in the warehouse was important enough to risk exposure.”
A sick feeling twists in my gut. The missing Omegas. The warehouse fire. The bounty on my head. They’re all connected, pieces of a larger plan I can’t yet see.
“If Tony’s making a public move on the Rockfords,” Rowan says, “we need to decide where we stand.”
His gaze sweeps from me to Gabriel, the question clear.Are the Blue Note’s interests aligned with the Rockfords in this fight? And most important of all, where do my loyalties lie?
Gabriel doesn’t turn toward Rowan, keeping his focus on me alone.
The paper crumples further in my fist. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for me, alive. My legal name is on a list alongside the Rockford mates.
But I’m no one’s mate.
I turn to Gabriel. “Don’t come to Foundation tonight.”
The words aren’t a request. They’re a directive, delivered with the quiet authority I use on rowdy patrons who need escorting out.
Gabriel stiffens. “You can’t be planning to go into work tonight. I need to get you back to Rockford Manor.”
“If you want to go hide, that’s your call.” I lean back to put distance between us. “Stay with your family, and I’ll stay with mine.”
Gabriel’s mouth forms a hard line. “You have a bounty on your head. Foundation is the first place they’ll look for you.”
“Exactly. And you showing up there puts a spotlight on both of us.”
